MoD & Babcock International

Babcock International is a leading supplier of infrastructure, equipment support, and military training to the British Armed Forces. They deliver mission critical services through strong partnering relationships and are the largest supplier of support services to the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Babcock Warships and Submarines, part of Babcock International, is the UK’s leading naval support business. They provide critical in-service, deep maintenance, and infrastructure support for warships and submarines around the world.

The company wanted to bring in an expert to innovate on their Phase 1 data capture and collation application for their work on the Type 23 Frigate Life Extension (Lifex) program.

• Improve data collection quality – Babcock’s initial Phase 1 mobile application delivered poor user experience, engagement, and data collection. Some automation of repeat actions – such as entering data into the UMMS backend system owned by BAE – would increase efficiency and reduce survey time.
• Change of project scope and device – Babcock’s Phase 1 app had originally been developed for Android Nexus 7 devices, but the focus had since moved to iOS. An iPad Air 2 targeted app was now required, along with some changes to the previous scope of the project.

Technically challenging environment – data collection would be being conducted by surveyors working within the constraints of a warship, with limited connectivity and interference from other machinery. As always, MyOxygen/ planned to focus on understanding the process from the perspective of the people performing the activities.

• Mobile App iPad & iOS
• MVP/Prototype
• Integration
• Discovery Workshops

The Phase 2 app that MyOxygen/ developed with Babcock was deployed in late 2018. It brought a 75% reduction in survey time, increased the quality of data, and allowed for cloud integration.

By exploiting data analytics, Babcock will now be able to increase the availability and decrease the life supportability cost and resources required by the Type 23 Frigates well past their originally designed service life.

The app also helps reduce risk through improved predictability. This is a solution that is scalable and can be deployed into Babcock’s other divisions, such as Marine and Biology